Beat Crusaders (ビート・クルセイダース Bīto Kuruseidāsu, typeset as BEAT CRUSADERS), commonly abbreviated BECR, was instigated at the end of 1997 by Tōru Hidaka as an experimental U.S. Lo-Fi Indie Rock unit. The rest of the band later joined as a result of continual experimental gigs performed around the Shimokitazawa (Tokyo) area. Their creative use of analog synthesizers and the old Casitone, incorporated with influences of such bands as Weezer and The Rentals, and at times the dynamism of Snuffesque rock, had transformed them into a powerfully melodic guitar band. By the end of 1998, Beat Crusaders had already started creating songs which emphasized they were a crazy and fun live act that was not to be missed.
During all promotional appearances, their faces are masked by drawings resembling themselves as printed by a dot-matrix printer.
In 2010, Toru Hidaka confirmed that Beat Crusaders would break-up.